Dutch Design Competition

Dutch Design Competition

What do we always say about the Dutch? They’re without doubt the most active country when it comes to 3D printing design. From the countless members of the dutch 3D printing community we’ve spoken to, it comes down, simply, to a matter of education. Robotics and CAD are taught in schools from an early age, this has helped when this technology started landing on desktops a few years ago.

To celebrate the Dutch spirit of innovation, the Netherlands Embassy in Washington D.C. and the Consulate General in New York are holding a Dutch Design competition in partnership with Kikkerland Design Inc., Shapeways and New York’s Museum of Arts and Design (MAD).

The idea for the competition was inspired by MAD’s “Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital" exhibition. The exhibit contains a sizeable amount of Dutch designs so much so that the Dutch Government decided to launch this design competition.

The design is open to all but has to be something that will be immediately recognisable as being Dutch as the embassy is looking to print the designs and distribute to their contacts in the United States as a sign of Dutch design.

“We’re opening up this competition to a wide range of people, whether they have decades of design experience or are a novice who designs as a hobby,” said Dutch Ambassador Rudolf Bekink. “We want to find a new giveaway item that everyone will know is distinctively Dutch the moment they see it.”

Shapeways and Kikkerland Design are perfect partners for this competition; the latter takes its name from a nickname for the Netherlands (literally meaning Frogland) and was aimed bringing Dutch Design to the American market and Shapeways, of course, was started by Peter Weijmarhausen and co back in Amsterdam.

Competition details:

Designers can submit their ideas until March 7.

The top 10 entries will be selected by a high-profile jury by the beginning of April, and will be printed in 3D by Shapeways.

The competition will then start its second phase when the designs become part of a temporary exhibit in New York City.

Kikkerland Design Inc. plans on producing the winning design and introduce it to the US (and global) market. In addition, the Dutch government will buy 500 pieces of the winning product, and use it as its official giveaway in the United States.

On top of that, Shapeways will offer the winner a weeklong residency at its headquarters in New York. Flight and accommodations will be included with the prize.

The winning design will be announced Jury members include:

Jan van der Lande, CEO of Kikkerland Design;

Duann Scott, Design Evangelist Shapeways;

Jan Habraken of FormNation;

Alissia Melka-Teichroew of ByAMT;

Ron Labaco, Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design and Exhibition Curator for Out of Hand;

Rudolf Bekink, Ambassador for the Netherlands in the United States;

Jan Kennis, Cultural Attaché and Head of the Press and Cultural department, Netherlands Consulate General, New York.

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